


Warming Up

by LivingInSmilesIsBetter (axm)



Category: Whiskey Cavalier (TV)
Genre: F/M, Sharing Body Heat, Tropes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-03-09 13:55:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18918367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/axm/pseuds/LivingInSmilesIsBetter
Summary: Huddled on the floor of an abandoned building in the middle of winter wasn't how Frankie had planned to spend this evening, but Will's warm and maybe it's time to stop fighting this?Takes place between 1x12 and 1x13. Spoilers for all aired episodes.





	1. Chapter 1

If the Ukraine was a person, Frankie would have shot it by now. 

Her feet crunched in the snow, but even the use of that word was just her being nice. It had stopped being snow about five degrees ago and now was nothing but hard, slippery ice. Walking through this was more tedious than Will talking about his feelings, and more treacherous than any mission she had been on recently.  
Comms had gone down twenty-five trees ago. That’s how she was measuring time now. In trees. Because checking the time felt like too much effort.  
Will had stopped talking fifteen trees ago. With her own lips and nose numb, the fact she couldn’t really feel her face at all, Frankie understood the silence. It unnerved her though. No encouraging words from her partner. No Jai or Susan or Standish, or God help them, Ray, in her ear. Just the crunch of Will’s shoes on the ice that was an echo of her own. 

“No birds,” she said, her voice unnaturally loud in the silent landscape. She stopped and tilted her chin up, scanning the canopy above and listening. 

Will stopped at her side, shivering noticeably as the cold air whipped around them. He listened too.

Branches cracked in the distance, giving out under the weight of snow. Leaves rustled above them as the wind picked up. But no birds. No animals. Just a strange silence.

“No,” she murmured, as that silence began to make sense. But they couldn’t be that far north; they couldn’t be near Belarus. That would mean they had diverted off course a good few hours ago. “No, no, no.”

“Frankie?” Will queried, concern in his tone. “No what?”

She ignored him. Yellow ahead in the otherwise white landscape had caught her eye. A sign. Literally. She approached the triangular sign, yellow and red and black and all very, very bad. “We took a wrong turn.” Beyond wrong. How could they have made such an error? How could Tina have steered them so wrong. Will’s footsteps stopped behind her. She felt his warm breath on her neck, his body so close she could easily lean back slightly, sink against him and steal some heat.

“Is that…?” Will trailed off, not needing to say it, the sign saying everything. 

“We’re in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone,” Frankie confirmed. 

“Well that just ruined my day.”

Frankie turned and cocked a frozen eyebrow at him. She tried, anyway. Whether her face moved at all was in question. “Those last coordinates, when Jai wasn’t on comms. The ones Tina gave us? She sent us the wrong way.”

“I’m sure it was an honest mistake.”

“It’s minus fifteen out here. I’m not lying when I say I’m getting frostbite, and also that Tina is dead.” Frankie blew air out through her numb lips. “Because I’m going to kill her, honest mistake or not.”

“Okay, look,” Will began, glancing around, “we can’t be far from Pripyat. There’s at least shelter there. Maybe a chance to get our comms back up. And as warm as the reactor might be, I think Pripyat is our better option here.”

“Fine,” Frankie huffed. “Good a place as any to plan her death.”

Pointing ahead, Will said, “I see the reactors, so…” He spun around. “We need to go this way.”

“I’m trusting you.”

“I won’t steer you wrong.”

“Unlike Tina,” Frankie muttered into the wind and began following Will towards shelter and hopefully some semblance of civilization.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay in getting this chapter up. I write the WC episode reviews at SpoilerTV and obviously the past couple of days have been a bit interesting and busy.

“Missed the tour,” Will said as they stepped into the main center of Pripyat. Deserted now, any tourist buses were long gone and night was closing in.

Frankie tapped on her earpiece, like that might somehow coax it in to becoming a piece of working equipment. They had walked for close to an hour to reach the small city, and the few attempts to reconnect had failed along the way. She was almost ready to admit the silence could have been filled. In a car, with music, Will was just background noise. And an almost comforting one, despite her protests. Walking a cold, snowy trail, through the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, when the imagination could be allowed too much freedom, well, she had almost missed his inane chatter.  
Okay fine, she had. A little.  
But with her own lips too cold, and her lungs burning more with each step, it just seemed easier to get to Pripyat and deal with their predicament there.  
“Jai?” she asked. “Susan? Are you there?”

After a moment’s silence, Will said, “Guess not.”

“Okay, this is fine,” Frankie said, uncharacteristically positive as she looked around at their options in the empty city. Will was rubbing off on her and she knew without looking at his face that he was currently smiling at how she had started the sentence. “We just need to get inside.” With that, she began trudging through the snow to a large, gray apartment building, the closest hospitable building in this deserted city. Will fell into step beside her. She counted the seconds until he could no longer resist the urge to chit-chat. 

“What if it isn’t our comms?”

He had managed five whole seconds before filling her with dread. “Will,” Frankie began, frowning at his words. She didn’t stop, not allowing her step to falter even for a moment as she asked, “What are you implying?”

Matching her strides, he was silent as he questioned that himself. “I don’t know,” he said after a moment. “I just have a weird feeling.”

“Well stop it.”

“Frankie—”

She stopped and turned to him, halting him in his tracks. “No! They are fine,” she said shortly. “Let’s get inside, out of this frozen wasteland, and go from there. I can’t feel my skin anymore.”

He opened his mouth to argue, that she had been the one who had stopped walking, but then quickly closed it again. He didn’t want to die today. Making a beeline for the closest building, leading the way this time, when he spoke again the topic had shifted somewhat. “Before you get your hopes up, I don’t think this will be like that cabin in Spain.”

The anger brought on by worry for their teammates subsided a little. “So no wine?” she asked, a smile playing on her lips.

“No anything,” he said. “Which is a shame because I did tweak my shoulder a bit back there—”

Frankie let out a grunt of annoyance while rolling her eyes, and then lengthened her strides to get away from him.

“I was willing to return the favor but okay,” he said, loud enough for her to hear, and the subtle clench of her right fist was enough for him to know she had heard. Funny, he thought as he followed one step behind her towards the abandoned building, that even her footprints in the snow looked like they were angry with him.

* * *

 

Folding her arms across her chest, for warmth, and out of annoyance, Frankie glanced around the interior of the old soviet building. “What made us think inside would be warmer than outside?” She locked her gaze on Will as her breath billowed out in front of her. “It might actually be colder.”

“But it’s dry,” he pointed out. “And there isn’t snow under my boots, so already it’s winning points with me.”

She rolled her eyes. “It would. You’re easy to please.”

Shrugging in agreement at her last comment, said like it was a bad thing although he couldn’t understand why that would be bad, he surveyed their surroundings. There was an old cot along the wall, with blankets still on top, and it was tempting to sit and wrap himself up in them. But contact with anything other than the floor and walls had to be minimal. They didn’t know how long they might be stuck there. Seeing no other alternative, Will dropped down, sitting with his back to the interior wall, farthest from the entrance and the windows, and gestured for Frankie to join him. “We have to limit what we come into contact with.”

“I know how this works.”

“Then stop being stubborn and come here.” He grinned at her. “I promise I’m warmer than the snow.”

Frankie stood stock still while she contemplated her decision. Stay where she was, and possibly freeze to death, or sit beside Will and at least steal a little body heat.

“Okay, you’re taking a really long time to decide between certain death or me.”

She sighed. “You better not make a big deal out of this,” she muttered.

“I wo-- Yeah, I will. We both know it. Now come here,” he said, his tone firmer but still full of his usual warmth. He reached out a hand to her, which she ignored as she moved beside him. She sat, but with more distance between them than needed. “This isn’t going to work if you don’t shift closer. Here,” he said, moving his body in her direction, “I’ll come to you.” He sidled up until their sides were pressed together, but Frankie made no move to relax. His arm snaked around her back, his palm curling at her far shoulder and tugging her against him. “Aaah, that’s better.”

“I hate you.”

He pretended to think it over. “No, no I really don’t think you do.”

“I hate this.”

“Well the situation isn’t the best but at least you’ve got great company.”

“I’ve had worse, I suppose.”

“Let’s just warm up, until we can at least feel our fingers, and then I’ll work on the comms. Worst case scenario, we hitch a ride out with tomorrow morning’s tourist bus.”

“And that arrives when?”

“Eleven-thirty am.”

“How do you know that?”

“I Googled it.”

“When?”

“Before we left New York.”

“Why?”

“I’ve never been to Pripyat. I wondered if a side-trip might be doable.”

“So this is your fault.” She glared up at him. “You..what? Bribed Tina to send us the wrong way?”

“No! Come on, Frankie. This was all her. Which is still strange, by the way.”

They were silent as they both considered his words, as they both started analyzing Tina’s recent behavior, looking for any red flags. But nothing seemed off, and it wasn’t long before she found herself distracted. She hated to admit it, she wouldn’t say it out loud, but Will was warm, and being with someone she trusted was comforting, and maybe she was starting to relax a little. The feeling was slowly returning to her extremities, and it made her body just a bit more pliant. With her side melded to his, experiencing a strange feeling of calm that was probably just radiation poisoning, Frankie let her head drop to his shoulder. It wasn’t the first time she had sought out his warmth. Movie nights, the fireplace, one too many glasses of red wine, and she often found herself nodding off against him. Like a cat, she had found someone she trusted enough to sleep around. Not fully let her guard down, not yet, but she was working on it. She had been working on it since he’d performed kitchen-surgery on her bullet wound and saved her life. She had never curled up against him quite like this though.

“Guess I’ll tick this place off the bucket list.”

Frankie smiled lightly at his comment. “I’m in no rush to come back.” She snuggled in closer to him, absorbing his warmth, sharing her own, and her nose wrinkled as she inhaled a familiar scent. “You used the lavender body wash from the hotel?”

“It reminded me of my grandmother, in a comforting, homely kind of way.”

She blew out a breath. “You remind me of my grandmother.”

“If she was half as tough as you, I’ll take it as a compliment.”

Frankie smiled. “She was tougher.”

“Let me guess. Your mom’s mom?”  
  
“Lucky guess.”

“She still alive?”

Frankie shook her head. “No. Lost her a year before my parents.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know what you’re doing Will,” she said, her cheek now pressed into his upper arm.

“How about if I tell you about my grandmother?”

“Please don’t.”

“Her name was Edna—”

Frankie groaned.

“And she made the best cupcakes. Like nothing you’ve ever tasted.”

“Will, can you please not talk about food right now.”

That caught his attention. “You okay, Frankie?” He turned his head slightly and looked down at her.

“Well I’m cold, and tired, and really hungry, but apart from that I’m swell.”

“Okay, you’re hangry, hang on….” He lifted his hips, jostling her enough to receive a dirty look, and stuck his hand into his back pocket. With a bit of wriggling, he tugged the candy bar out and held it up. “Halves?”

“I hate you a little less now.”

“Yeah you do,” he said brightly. Will split the candy bar and offered her half of the Ukrainian aerated milk chocolate that hadn’t had an opportunity to melt.

Frankie munched silently on the chocolate while the room darkened around them. There were no lights and night was soon going to become very, very dark. “One of us has to stay awake at all times.”

“I know,” he replied, and the unspoken reasons why had them both gazing around the room, both wondering if any wild animals could get in – wondering if any already had. “You sleep first.”

“You won’t let the mutant wolves eat me?”

“Promise,” Will replied. He finished his half of the chocolate bar as Frankie took the last bite of hers. “You know,” he began, tightening his hold on her a bit more, bringing her closer until her head fell back against his shoulder. “I think this is the closest thing to a hug you’ve ever let me give you.”

It was just them. Comms were down. No one else would hear and she could deny it later. “That night after leaving Kelly’s,” she began, shifting slightly, bringing her lips closer to his ear, like someone could overhear. “When the mission was over and we got back to The Dead Drop? I almost hugged you.”

“Really?” His smile widened.

“But you would have made a big deal out of it, so I didn’t.”

“I wish you had.”

“I know.” She made a face, like she was disgusted, but she had stopped being disgusted by his stupid emotions several missions ago now. She wanted to hug him now, be surrounded by his warmth and lavender scent. It was hard for her to know how to initiate that without seeming vulnerable or needy.

“You want a hug, partner?”

“No,” she said, an automatic response.

“Not buying it.” With that, Will wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her in for an awkward sideways hug.

Her chin found its way to his shoulder, completely by its own volition. Before reuniting with Kelly, Frankie might have stayed stiff in his arms, not allowing herself to return the hug. Before Kelly, the only person she had ever occasionally hugged had been Jai, and even that had been rare. But hugging wasn’t as foreign to her now as it had been, and Will was warm. Her arms snaked around him and she clung to him a little harder than she had intended. The heat from his palm radiated through her jacket, creating more heat from friction as he rubbed it against her upper back. It was nice, despite the awkward angle, her earlier protests, the situation. It was something she could get used to.  
It was that realization that had her retreating, that had her pulling her chin off his shoulder and easing out of his arms. She gave him a half shrug. “Baby steps,” she murmured.

He nodded. “I’m really proud of you, Frankie.”

A smile lit up her face. “I’m proud of me too,” she replied, defusing the more serious atmosphere with a little humor. Allowing herself to slip back against his shoulder, she leaned into him, letting her head rest against his upper arm, blinking slowly as exhaustion took over. “You’ll keep the wolves away?”

Will squeezed her shoulder and dropped his cheek to the crown of her head. “You know I will.”

“Yeah, I do,” she replied, before finally allowing herself to drift off.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I delayed posting this until ch4 was done. The good news is it's now finished and will be posted tomorrow.

_“—-ill?”_ Will's earpiece crackled to life, the static in his head slowly easing into words he understood. _“You guys there?”_  
  
“Jai, hey,” he whispered, trying not to rouse the sleeping Frankie in his arms. “I’m here. Frankie’s getting her beauty sleep.”  
  
_“Are you both okay?”_  
  
Will kept his hold on Frankie, one arm around her shoulders, but raised his cheek from where it had been resting on the crown of her head for what must have been hours now. “We’re good. Cold and hungry, but we’re fine.” He glanced down to find her still sleeping. “What happened to the comms?”  
  
_“Systems went down. Standish is on it. I’m pinpointing your location now. We’ll send a team.”_  
  
“Yeah, we’re in Pripyat. I’m pretty sure we’re both glowing in the dark by now.”  
  
_“Pripyat? Did you get turned around?”_

"Ask Tina.”

 _“Tina_?”

“She gave us our final coordinates, then comms went down.”

Jai was silent in his ear for a moment. _“I will look into that,”_ he said slowly. _“How long have you been in Pripyat?”_  
  
Will checked his watch, the face illuminated by a small light. “Three hours.” That surprised him. It had felt so much longer.  
  
_“Where are you exactly?”_  
  
“We’re in an old apartment building.”  
  
_“Wait, you’re inside?”_  
  
“It’s snowing out there.”  
  
_“Okay but are you touching anything?”_  
  
“Just the floor, a wall, and Frankie.” When Jai went silent again and Will wondered if he had lost him, he asked, “You there?”

_“Yeah, look, you both should be fine, but getting both of you out will take time so really limit touching anything else.”_

“Great advice.” Will ended the connection, for now, knowing Jai would be listening in on them, and glanced down at Frankie. He could make out the shape of her in the dark, relaxed against him, and from her even breathing assumed she was still asleep.

“I just had the strangest dream,” Frankie's voice filtered up.

“Oh?”

“That we were stuck in Pripyat slowly being irradiated.” She sighed. “Guess it wasn’t a dream.”

“Sorry.”

“Yeah.” She shifted in his arms, but instead of moving away like he had expected she just changed position a little to find a more comfortable spot before settling back against him. “How’s Jai?”

“Team’s good. They’re working on extraction. How are you?”

“Cold,” she admitted. “But awake. You sleep for a bit.”

His attention focused on her first word, and while he couldn’t warm them up completely, he could make her more comfortable. “You trust me?”

“Will—”

“Do you trust me?” he repeated, having learned some time ago not to surprise Frankie with unexpected touching.

“Of course,” she replied.

“Okay, I’m just going to shift a little. I can’t sleep sitting up like I used to be able to.”

“Because you’re old,” she teased.

He politely ignored her jibes. “And if I do this right we can both be warmer and you can keep watch.” There was more to his plan, though. Things he wasn’t telling her. Like how, if he could get her positioned right, she wouldn’t be as exposed to as much radiation as she was now. If he spoke those words, she would never allow this. So, he kept them inside as he shuffled away from the wall, shifted onto his back, and with an arm around her eased her against him. “If you face this way,” he said, bringing her torso flush to his, guiding her head to his chest, her cheek almost above his heart, “you can watch the door while I sleep.”

Frankie allowed herself to be guided into place, biting back comments when he hauled her body on top of his own. Will was sculptured, with hard muscles and little body fat, but with the layers of winter clothing he was almost soft. And he was a hell of a lot warmer than the ground she had been sitting on, and the wall she had been leaning back against, for the past three hours. They had been in positions before that threatened to cross the line into sexual. She had straddled him once defusing a bomb. This was no different to that. Just two people, working together to survive.

“I’ve heard thinking about baseball helps,” he murmured into her hair.

Frankie groaned and buried her head in his chest. Was he a mind reader now? Or simply feeling it too? Now that she was warm, comfortable, and not hating the situation quite as much now, Frankie said, “Sleep, Will. I hear mutant wolves make good targets and I could use the practice.”

* * *

Hours passed. She didn’t keep track of how many. Jai was working on getting them out. It would take as long as it took. There weren’t many people Frankie trusted with her life, but Jai was one of them. So too was the man she was currently using as a mattress. A snoring mattress. Having something else to tease him about always pleased her.

Kelly had asked if she was happy. Her answer of 'sometimes' had been honest, but could have easily been followed up with a ‘more often now’. Because of Will. Not just Will, of course. Jai, and Susan, Standish, and even Ray who wasn’t on her hit-list anymore. And it was an actual hit-list. Although Ray had been so low on it he really hadn’t too much to be concerned about. Now, while she stood firmly by Will’s side on the Gigi drama, she might be a bit bothered if Ray were to die.

But Will. Will was the reason she laughed more now, even if sometimes it was at him. Will was the reason family wasn’t the four-letter word it had once been. Will introduced her to dumb romance movies. Will let her laugh at him when he cried during them. Will drank with her. Not the rowdy tequila slamming nights of her old ways, but quietly, in front of a roaring fire, sipping whatever bottle of red wine he thought was closest to the one from that one night in Spain. Will made her feel like she wanted to be part of something again. Will made her feel loved.  
It wasn’t a word she would speak often. Even saying it to Kelly had been difficult. But she knew the feeling, she wasn’t so closed off that she had forgotten what love felt like. She just expressed it differently these days.

And Will. Will made her feel loved.

Especially now. The man currently snoring softly into her hair, possibly drooling on her, letting her use him for warmth. Baseball wasn’t cutting it. He felt good. He was warm, and soft, solid, and strong. With her ear pressed to his chest as she kept her eyes firmly on the entrance, his heartbeat counted off the passing time.

_1-2_

_3-4_

_5-6_

_7-8_

She counted the seconds to the beat. Until they became a minute. Until they became an hour. Until dawn began to color the grey with streaks of orange, and it gave her hope that perhaps the snow had finally stopped falling outside.  
They would know soon enough.  
There was no need to wake him yet. She let him sleep, until he woke naturally, and felt a twinge of sadness, knowing this moment would end soon – and she would miss the feel of him beneath her.

 

* * *

 

_“Frankie?”_

Her comms stirred to life. She knew Jai had been listening in on them. Susan probably too. It was comforting in an annoying way. “I’m here,” she replied. “Hey, Jai. How’s extraction going?” It felt good to hear his voice again.

 _“Almost there,”_ Jai replied into her ear. _“Two SUVs should arrive in approximately twenty minutes.”_

“Better wake Sleeping Beauty then.”

She could almost hear the smile in Jai’s voice when he said, _“Tell him he snores.”_

“I intend to,” she promised. With the sun finally filling the room with light, she could see Will’s features for the first time all night. It meant she wasn’t guarding the entrance, but with no credible threat she saw no harm in watching him instead. Just for a moment. One-night stands were her forte, and it had been some time since she had watched a man sleep. Usually she was checking if they were actually asleep, before absconding with whatever she had been sent to retrieve – or killing them.

“Do I have something on my face?”

Frankie coughed in surprise. She cleared her throat and croaked, “What?”

“You’re staring at me.” Will’s eyes cracked open and he smirked at her.

“Thought you were asleep,” she grumbled.

“I was, until Jai’s voice in my ear woke me. And yes, I’m aware I snore. I’ve been told it’s cute.”

“It’s not.” This was the point she should have pushed herself off Will and marched for the door. Instead, she found herself transfixed by his eyes, mesmerized by how easy it would be to lean closer to him, cover his full lips with her own, and kiss him until the sensation erased any hint of the tension this job instilled in people. But kissing him would be easy. Dealing with the emotions and general aftermath of such a moment? That was too hard for her.  
Easing back, she placed a hand on his chest and rolled away from him, until her body connected with the floor.  
Goddamn butterflies. That’s what this man did to her. They were fluttering in her stomach, a swarm of hundreds. She was Frankie Trowbridge. She didn’t get butterflies.  
Not B.W anyway. Before Will.

Blowing out a frustrated huff of air, she stood, ran a hand through her wild hair, and listened. Their evac team wouldn’t be far away now.

“Come on,” she said to Will. She didn’t look at him, she spoke the words into the air, and then walked towards the door. She didn’t look back. She didn’t want to see the disappointment she knew was on his face. She could barely stomach her own.

* * *

Stepping outside, the sun was blinding against the white snow, and she shielded her eyes for a moment while she adjusted to the light. Will was soon at her side, but she refused to look at him, watching instead for the convoy.

“Frankie—”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Which suggests there’s actually something to talk about,” Will said, his tone gentle.

He didn’t understand how desperately she wanted to be ready. He didn’t believe how much she actually needed him. “I don’t want to talk about it here. Just… later, maybe. Okay?”

“I’m holding you to that.”

“You’re so annoying.”

Will’s lips parted, like he was about to say something, before thinking better of it and closing his mouth again. They stood in silence, but not for long. Before either felt the need to speak to break it, the rumble of engines sounded in the silence, and then grew louder. Two SUVs pulled up and they made their way over to them.  
Standish exited the second car and moved to the first, stopping the two agents in their tracks.

“That one’s yours,” he told them, gesturing to the second car. “I’m riding with Susan. Don’t wanna get microwaved by you two.”

“Love you too, Standish,” Will replied.

Standish merely shrugged and got into the first car, beside Susan, who waved at them via the rear-view mirror.

Frankie allowed Will the driver’s seat, as an act of good faith since he had given her a mattress all night. She noted, with interest, that he was quiet as they began driving through the streets of Pripyat. His eyes flittered from one side to the other occasionally, taking in the sights, but otherwise he looked straight ahead, following the car in front. Maybe he was tired, from little more than a few hours’ sleep, or maybe he was just concentrating on getting them the hell out of there. It felt unnatural to be in a car beside a quiet Will, and after fifteen minutes of nothing but the sound of the engine, and the tires on the bumpy road, Frankie couldn’t stay silent any longer.

“You okay?”

“Hmmmm?” he asked, distracted.

“You’re not usually this quiet. For this long.”

“Just thinking.”

She threw a wry smile his way, but he didn’t see it. “Yeah, I gathered that. I know I’m bad at this, but if you need to talk, I’ll listen. I may not give the greatest advice, but I’ll listen.”

Will’s eyes flickered her way and he rewarded her with a smile. “I might hold you to that later.”

That was interesting. And the only reasons she could see for him not wanting to discuss it now were firmly planted in their ears. Clearly sensing her discomfort at his lack of conversation, Will reached over and flicked the radio on, picking up a Kiev station. The sound of a familiar song in an unfamiliar language filled the car, serenading them through the lonely, uneven streets of Pripyat.

* * *

 

They drove until they reached a checkpoint, where they were asked to exit their vehicle. Asked was a polite version of the events. In actuality, there had been no asking, and neither had been left with any doubt there was a choice in the matter.  
Upon exiting, a guard ushered all four of them into a room off the road. Frankie knew exactly what was about to happen, and she wasn’t thrilled.

Radiation checkpoint.

She couldn’t see how either she or Will could possibly pass after overnight exposure.

  
Standish and Susan stepped into machines first, and Frankie’s eyes flicked Will’s way to see if she could read him, but for once he was keeping his emotions in check and allowed none to show.  
The machines beeped, and both Standish and Susan exited, having passed.  
When the guard beckoned her and Will forward, she flashed him a hopeful smile and then stepped into her machine. With her back to Will, she couldn’t see the light that lit up, but she did hear the sound. A sound similar to the one her own machine was currently making, and very different to the sound it had made for Standish and Susan.

Fail.

No surprise there.

Standish threw them both a thumbs up. “You’ve got this!” he told them, much too thrilled by the situation than he should be.

Susan looked mildly confused, but the confusion left her face when Standish whispered something in her ear. She then grinned at Frankie. “Oh, I am so never letting either of you forget this.”

Before Frankie could question her, she was ushered through a door, Will behind her, and groaned when she saw their fate.

Decontamination showers.

Or rather: shower. One room with multiple shower heads. There was at least a privacy curtain around the shower, but inside there was nothing separating her from Will. And she doubted they were going to be allowed to do this separately, because she just wasn’t that lucky.

“Strip,” the guard told them both in heavily accented English. “Shower, wash body, hair, and step out opposite side. Clean clothes will be on chair.”

“Together?” Will asked.

“Together,” the guard confirmed.

Frankie sighed. “Because there hasn’t been enough mortification this trip.” With that, she yanked the zipper of her jacket down and let it drop to the floor. “Whatever, let’s just get this over with.” Her top followed next, her bra, her shoes and socks, pants and underwear, until she was stark naked standing in a puddle of clothing. There had been a short pause before the rustle of Will’s clothing had followed her own, but she knew now, without turning around, he was naked behind her, and knowing Will he was keeping his eyes fixed on the ceiling or floor and probably hadn’t even peeked.

She strode forward, tugged the cord to start the water, and kept her back to him as she scrubbed her body. “Worst vacation ever,” she grumbled, although she was mostly joking, trying to scrub the awkwardness away and let it flow down the drain.

“I did enjoy the company though,” Will replied over the water.

She felt bad then. A little bit anyway. For being mean the previous day and snapping at him, when he had been nothing but kind and had even given her a comfy bed. Sighing, she said, “I’m sorry for being hangry yesterday.”

“Hey,” he replied, and she could tell from the change in his voice he had turned her way. “Don’t. I get it. And you didn’t threaten to shoot me, so it was a step up.”

“Are you staring at my ass?”

The beat of silence gave her the answer.

“My eyes may have accidentally dropped, yes, but it was only for a second and I haven’t looked again.”

And she believed him. Frankie turned and met his eyes. “Need me to scrub your back?” She saw his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed hard. “Hey, Will?" she said, the teasing gone, her tone softer now. “You have permission to look.”

But his eyes stayed on hers, his gaze never wavering. “Not here, Frankie. Not now.”

His reply suggested ‘later’. She nodded, and turned away from him again, and she realized then a lot of things said had suggested ‘later’ too. Later, when it was just the two of them, no armed guards, no Jai or Susan or Standish in their ears. Just them. Turning the water off, she smiled to herself as she stepped over to the chair their fresh clothes rested on. The smile dropped from her face when she saw the orange sweats.

“Do you have anything that doesn’t scream prisoner?” she muttered to no one.

“I agree orange isn’t really my color,” Will said, reaching for the towel provided and wrapping it around his waist. “But I know you’ll still look beautiful.”

She let out an ‘ugh’ at his words, but it was half-hearted. He was sweet and she kind of liked that.

Drying quickly, both stepped into their new clothes, turned to face one another, and then both laughed at the situation. They sobered quickly when the guards turned and fired unimpressed looks their way.

“So, what’s next?” Frankie asked. “A night in the cells?”

“You go back to machine. If you pass, you go home.”

“If we fail?”

The guard smirked. He pointed to the machines. Frankie saw no need to delay this further and stepped in. She placed her hands on each side and held her breath. After a moment the machine made the more positive of the two buzzing sounds and the green light lit up. She had passed. She stepped out to see Will standing, yet to step into his machine.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he replied, and then moved inside it. He raised his hands and fixed his eyes on the lights, waiting for one to shine. When it did, he let out a shaky breath and threw her a forced grin. “See, all good.”

“Except you thought you would fail, why?”

He shrugged as he exited the machine, and turned to the guard. “We good to go?”

“Yes.”

“Will?” Frankie prompted Will’s retreating form, but he didn’t turn or even slow. And then she knew. She knew he had taken a bigger dose of radiation by lying on that ground. She knew he had saved her from it by having her sleep on him. God, he was so, _so, very annoying._


	4. Chapter 4

_New York City_

* * *

 

Frankie almost pulled her gun on Ray when he announced another mission scheduled to leave in the morning. They had just returned from Kiev, hadn’t eaten more than airline food, hadn’t slept properly thanks to the hum of the engines and the constant turbulence, and no sooner had they all downed a post-mission celebratory shot had Ray mentioned the next job.

 _Ollerman_.

And now, what? She was expected to be able to go home and sleep with _that_ on her mind?

Her finger twitched and bumped against her thigh. It would be so easy…

“No, you can’t shoot him,” Will whispered into her ear.

She sighed. “Spoilsport.”

Throwing back her third shot and still glaring Ray’s way, Frankie didn’t miss the bedroom eyes Susan was giving Ray, all heavy-lidded with dilated pupils. And she didn’t miss neither Susan nor Ray making any move to exit the bar with them. Frankie wasn’t ready to call them cute, but she could be happy that Susan had someone.  
It was nice to have someone to go home with.

“Frankie? Will?” Jai said, beckoning them over to the exit. When all three stepped out into the night, the door closing behind them, he told them, “I looked deeper into Tina. Everything checks out."

"And naturally she’s away on a mission right now and can't be questioned,” Will added.

“Yeah, convenient," Frankie huffed. "When she returns, she’s dead. That was a rookie mistake.” Her voice rose on the last sentence. She had liked Tina, had seen her as someone who might become a friend. And while she had become a friend of sorts, someone to drink with, Frankie never quite felt the same kind of connection she had with Susan.

“I’ll be sure to not let her know,” Jai replied. He threw them both a knowing smile. “Have a good evening.”

Frankie clenched her teeth at his tone but chose to be the bigger person. “Goodnight, Jai,” she said in response.

“Hey, Frankie?” Will began, getting her attention, just the two of them now. “Since they already think we’re hanging out tonight anyway, you wanna grab some dinner?”

Yes, it was nice to have someone to go home with, even if just for a few hours. “Sure,” she replied easily. “Chinese?”

“Perfect,” he told her, smiling.

“I need to stop by my place for a change of clothes, meet you at yours?”

“Pack your bag for tomorrow and bring it with you,” he told her casually, like the unspoken invitation for her to stay in his guestroom overnight wasn’t a big deal.

And she supposed it wasn’t. It wouldn’t be the first time she had crashed at Will’s. It would actually be the second. The first had happened not long after returning from Spain. Naturally Emma had been told. Naturally Emma hadn’t been thrilled. Frankie supposed Will would make some mention of the sleep-over to Susan in the morning, because it would just come flowing out of him like it was no big deal. A conversation like:  
‘I noticed you and Frankie arrived together this morning,’ Susan might comment to Will, who would reply with a thrilled, ‘Frankie slept at mine last night.’ And Frankie would have to clarify: _Slept_. _Guest room. Not together. No sex._  
She was already dreading it.  
Still, the thought of dragging herself home later, satiated by alcohol and food, back to her cold apartment alone? Once upon a time – a few months back – she wouldn’t have cared. She would have preferred it. But Will had changed her.

“Food will be waiting when you arrive,” he told her. They stepped to the curb, both scanning the street for a ride.

“I haven’t told you what I want,” she pointed out, her back to him as she hailed a cab.

“Don’t need to. I know.”

“That’s presumptuous.”

“Sesame Chicken.”

She pretended to mull it over as a cab approached. Sighing, she relented. “Yes. And don’t forget the fortune cookies.”

“Never,” he promised. A cab pulled up and he opened the door for her. “Also, fun fact, we were likely exposed to more radiation during our flight home than our whole time in Pripyat.”

“Super fun,” Frankie grumbled. "Is that your way of saying you want to shower with me again?"

"I---what? No, Frankie--" He caught the smirk on her lips and shook his head. “Not funny. See you soon.”

She closed the door and gave her address to the cabbie, but in her peripheral she caught the little wave Will was giving her, and damn she hated how stinking cute he could be sometimes.

* * *

 

“You pack pajamas?”

The first thing he asked her when he opened his front door to her. Like she couldn’t be trusted to pack because she had clearly done it too fast to have done it right. She rolled her eyes.  
“I packed my version of them, yes.”

He had showered, his hair still damp, and changed into sweats. She had done the same, except her version of sweats were a pair of black jeans and a black cardigan. She shrugged out of the cardigan, hanging it up by his front door, to reveal the gray t-shirt beneath. See, she could do comfy.

“You sure? I have an extra pair if you need them.”

Frankie wrinkled her nose. “I’m sure that I don’t want to wear your sweatpants.” Accepting a glass of whiskey from him, poured from a fancy decanter that made her raise an eyebrow in appreciation, Frankie settled on the couch. She sipped slowly and watched Will as he opened the door to the delivery guy and then moved to the couch. He looked happy, which wasn’t rare for Will, and she envied that sometimes. She inhaled deeply and noted that he also smelled really good. Again, not uncommon. But it wasn’t lemon verbena, or lavender, or whatever scent the hotel of the night had in the bathroom. It was a more musky, woody scent. The kind of aftershave that might have made her panties drop in the past. And while he smelled really damn good, she almost preferred the more flowery, fruity scents on him. They suited him.

“What?” he asked, pausing and smiling crookedly.

She hid her smirk with her glass, refusing to let him know the thought of her panties dropping had passed through her mind. “Nothing. Give me the food.”

He handed it over, settling at her side and smiling brightly. “Feels good to be home.”

Home, there was that word again. It was a word Frankie hadn’t given much thought to for years now. Home hadn’t been something she could appreciate. She had a small apartment in New York but had never spent enough nights there to be truly settled. She had kept it spartan, which didn’t help. She liked Will’s apartment. She liked its warmth, its homely feel. And, aside from going home to sleep, recently she found herself spending more time with Will in his home than her own.

Sometimes home was what you made it. Or what others made it for you. Sometimes home was just being where her friends were.

“Radiation aside, that was definitely a much more enjoyable Ukraine visit than my last one.”

Frankie snorted softly. “Not even the wolves were interested in your internal organs this time.” She opened her container of food and inhaled deeply as the aroma filtered up. She had missed hot food. She dug her fork in, heaping a generous amount of chicken on it, before shoving it in her mouth.

Will chuckled beside her. “Good?”

“So good,” she mumbled around her food.

While she ate, Will continued to chat between mouthfuls of his own food. Not expecting responses from her that were anything more than light grunts, or head nods, but he filled the room with his warm voice anyway. The more he spoke, the more satisfied the full belly and whiskey made her, the further she sunk into his couch. And she noted, but only to himself, that his arm, resting at the back of the couch, had inched closer to her. It had happened casually, and likely with no ulterior motives from him. Will had a habit of sitting that way when watching a movie, or sipping a drink. Feeling those damn butterflies again, Frankie tried to ignore it all. Not tonight, Frankie, she told herself. Be strong.

She cracked open her fortune cookie and sighed at the words printed on the piece of paper.

"What?" Will asked.

"The fortune you seek is in another cookie," she read aloud.

Will chuckled and cracked open his own cookie. He read it silently.

"Well?"

He was hesitant, and just when she was about to reach over and take the paper from him to read it herself, he said, "Flattery will go far tonight."

The "in bed!" almost left her lips but she swallowed it down, the words too loaded now. “God, you’re so annoying,” she murmured after popping a piece of the cookie in her mouth. It had been more to herself, but loud enough for him to hear.

At those words, Will stopped speaking, put his own empty container on the coffee table, reached for his whiskey, washed his dinner down, and did it all so quietly Frankie was worried he might have something caught in his throat.

When she raised an eyebrow at him, he put his glass down and turned to her. “I figured out your code.”

“My code?” she asked, intrigued by his words.

“When you say, ‘you’re so annoying’. I figured that one out. Admittedly it took me a while, longer than anticipated, but you’re you so the result kind of surprised me.”

“I’m telling you you’re annoying,” she said plainly. Deny, deny, deny.

“No,” he said. “You’re not.”

“What am I saying then?” She turned her own body to him and leaned in closer, curious about what he might have to say, and both hoping and fearing he might actually have it all figured out.

“You’re saying, ‘I love you’.”

Frankie swallowed thickly. Her lips parted, despite the fact she had no idea what she was about to say, when Will continued.

“And before you panic, I don’t believe it means, ‘I’m in love with you’.” He flashed her a grin. “Not yet anyway. Almost, though, maybe?” He paused to catch her hard swallow, the action telling him he actually did have her all figured out. “But I know it means you truly care about the people you say it too. I know you’re capable of saying I love you, I heard you say it to Kelly. But that relationship is long. The friendships you have here, with this team, they’re still new. I know you care about us. All of us. But Susan? Myself? I think you love us.” His arm curled at her shoulder, squeezing gently. “I think you love me.”

Frankie could feel the tears pricking at her eyes. She blinked rapidly, hoping to clear them, because crying wasn’t an option. With one glass of whiskey plus the three post-mission shots from The Dead Drop buzzing through her veins, she felt relaxed enough to give in. Letting her guard down, letting him in, she said, “Little bit.”

“A lotta bit,” Will corrected, leaning in closer to her, right into her personal space.

It was getting too intimate, and while she wanted nothing more than to bridge the last of the distance and kiss the smile off his face, she wasn’t quite there. There was still a wall in place and some bricks were holding firm. Putting her glass down, Frankie slowly pushed herself off the couch. It would have been so easy to run but instead she gestured for him to come to her.

A curious smile on his lips, Will stood and stepped over to her. “What’s happening?”

“About that hug we discussed in Pripyat…”

His face lit up and he opened his arms wide, a silent invitation. Inhaling deeply, she stepped up to him. He wrapped her up, his arms around her, her own snaking around his waist. With her chin on his shoulder, she breathed him in and let the heady scent of him calm her. It was difficult for her to admit she needed this sometimes. Difficult to admit she didn't really understand how much she had missed being held until seeing Kelly again. How she hadn't realized until that moment how much she wanted Will's arms around, even if back then she hadn't been able to follow through.

“Does this mean I can hug you now?” His arms tightened around her.

Frankie smiled into his shoulder at the hopeful lilt in his voice. “If you give me warning it’s coming and don’t catch me off-guard.” He was just as warm and strong as had been on that cold Pripyat floor. Her body wanted to melt into his.

“Deal.”

“You’re so annoying,” she muttered, and she felt his body shake as he laughed softly at her words. Pulling back, Frankie brushed a quick, chaste kiss to his cheek, met his eyes briefly, caught the pleased smile on his lips, and then turned away. “I think that’s enough opening up for one night.” She gathered up the bag she had dropped by the front door, and once there was distance between them, turned to look at him. “Goodnight, dork.”

Will grinned. “’Night, Francesca.”

She felt his eyes on her, long after she had closed the bedroom door and stood, hand hovering above the handle, tempted to go back out there and pull him in for a lip-bruising kiss.

Wondering if he was just inches away, on the other side of the door, hand hovering above the handle, contemplating the same thing...

* * *

 

Frankie woke early the next morning, the evening playing through her mind. She dressed quickly and sat drumming her fingers on Will’s kitchen table. She could hear him moving around in his bedroom. “What are you doing?” she called out to him.

He opened his bedroom door and grinned at her. “Morning, Frankie. I’m packing.”

“Pack faster. I’m bored.”

Exiting his bedroom, Will wandered into the living room, closed his hand around Frankie’s half-empty glass from the night before and placed it on the table in front of her, next to the decanter. He emptied his pockets of coins, set them up in a line, and said, “See if you can bounce a quarter into the glass.”

Frankie rolled her eyes. “Really?”

“Really,” he said. He returned to his bedroom to continue packing.

Frankie watched his retreating form. She shrugged, reached for a coin, and bounced it on the table – expecting it to bounce right in. When it didn’t, she sighed in annoyance and tried again.

Damn.

By the time he had finished packing she would have this…

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a decision to work this into canon with ep13, so I hope that doesn’t disappoint anyone hoping for more from these two, but I’m considering building on this with an ep13 post-ep, if people are interested? 
> 
> Also, I’m taking prompts. Don’t be afraid to leave one in the comments if there’s something you’d like to read.

**Author's Note:**

> Look, you can't just wander into the zone, ok. There are fences and checkpoints. Also, there ARE birds, and lots of animals, but just not in the area they're in because of (plotholes) reasons. Suspend disbelief for one fic. I usually try to make things somewhat realistic but sometimes even I need to write silly tropey stuff that isn't completely accurate.  
> Also: #SaveWhiskeyCavalier. ABC are clearly working for The Trust. Goddamn you, Ollerman!


End file.
